Am I Exercising Too Much?

MandyMH80 · March 2013

I'm a 32 year old female of 5' tall and 211lb who is trying to lose some weight... a lot of weigh! I've been keeping my daily food intake around 1200-1500 calories, BUT I have had days where I've eating over 1500 so I think (corret me if I'm wrong) that's balancing out overtime to be a healthy number of calories. I'm eating primarily raw fruits, vegetables, oatmeals, whole grain crackers as a snack, and lean proteins like chicken. I do eat other foods, these aren't the only things I'm consuming. I'm going to make a more conscious effort to improve my nutrition and carefully keep track of my calories in the coming weeks.

For exercise, I alternate between walking on the treadmill and doing tae bo. I have a heart rate monitor which says I burn at least 800 calories doing either exercise (tae bo is usually closer to 900 calories burned if not more). I've been exercising for 6 out of 7 days of the week using the 6th day to rest.

This past week my weight loss stalled. I weighed in 211.4lb for 4 days straight, the 5th day I was at 212.4lb after having chinese food the night before, the 6th day (today) I weighed 211.4 again. Is it possible that I'm exercising too much and/or not eating enough calories? The email I received from myfitnesspal said to reach my goal, consume 1200 calories daily and burn 2800 calories weekly doing 6 one hour exercises. Right now, I'm burning roughly 4800+ if my hrm watch is accurate. I thought that if I burned more than that, it would come off faster. Am I mistaken? What would you suggest? Maybe change my exercises to burn only 500 calories daily in 6 days? Keep going with what I'm doing, but up my calorie intake?

Jamcnair · March 2013

It says you just joined this month...we're only in the 2nd week of March! Give it time. This isn't a race. Are you eating 12-1500 or netting that much? It's good to keep an eye on your NET because if you are eating that much but exercising 800 calories off, that isn't enough fuel for your body.

MandyMH80 · March 2013

It says you just joined this month...we're only in the 2nd week of March! Give it time. This isn't a race. Are you eating 12-1500 or netting that much? It's good to keep an eye on your NET because if you are eating that much but exercising 800 calories off, that isn't enough fuel for your body.

I may have just joined, but I've been trying to lose weight for 2 months. This past month has been with the treadmill and taebo. The previous month I was working on ditching the bad foods and improving my food choices. I have lost some weight. I just want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong. If I'm not eating enough to maintain this exercise routine, which way would you go? More food and keep this routine or stay at this calorie level and cut back on exercising?

Shes1CraftyMama · March 2013

Stalling is normal espec. when working out a lot. Your body is having to respond to everything you are doing. Give it a few weeks. WHAT?!?! Yes a few weeks. Up your cals to about 1600 and then see what happens. Be sure you are fueling your body with good foods and lots of protein. It sounds to me like your body is working on making more muscle. If you haven't taken measurements yet, do so. It really helps when the scale stalls. Oh, and pics too. It is motivating to see body changes occuring when the scale isn't moving. It takes your body's responses time to adjust to new muscle. Once your body does adjust you will start to dump weight. This usually occurs around the 6 week mark for women. Once your body realizes you have extra muscle it will start to burn excess fat at a higher rate. Just keep up the good work, make small changes every week - And HANG IN THERE! I have been where you are sooooo many times. Every time I would get to 200 I would plateau. Not anymore. I hung in, made a couple of changes, and now I am under and haven't gone back (nor will I ever!) You are doing everything right. Just keep it up! GOOD LUCK

penultimateokgo · March 2013

I don't think you should weigh yourself every day. Hide the scale and only weigh yourself once a week at most.

Also, you might want to take your measurements if you haven't already. If you're exercising more, you could be burning off any lightweight fat and turning it into heavier muscle.

I've been the same weight for over a month and it was really frustrating at first not seeing any changes on the scale. However, I did find that I suddenly could put on and button an old pair of jeans I couldn't get past my thighs 4-5 months ago.

dixiewhiskey · March 2013

MandyMH80 · March 2013

I don't think you should weigh yourself every day. Hide the scale and only weigh yourself once a week at most.

Also, you might want to take your measurements if you haven't already. If you're exercising more, you could be burning off any lightweight fat and turning it into heavier muscle.

I've been the same weight for over a month and it was really frustrating at first not seeing any changes on the scale. However, I did find that I suddenly could put on and button an old pair of jeans I couldn't get past my thighs 4-5 months ago.

Personally, I feel the need to weight myself daily. I've read that it's helpful in seeing trends. When it was my TOM the scale showed I was 3lb heavier, but it came off as quickly as it came on. At least now I'll know for next month this may happen again.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Believe me when I say I have no intentions of giving up. I just want to make sure I'm doing good for my body instead of accidentally causing harm.

bwogilvie · March 2013

Weighing yourself every day is useful, if you then use some mathematical analysis to find the trend in the daily fluctuations. I like the exponentially weighted average that John Walker discusses in "The Hacker's Diet" (Google to find the free online version).

As for exercise: how long are you working out to burn 800 calories? I burn 500-600 calories in an hour of intensive cycling (heart rate average between 150 and 160), and I weigh over 200 lbs. I went cycling for 72 minutes this afternoon with my wife, and burned only about 300 calories. Many heart rate monitors wildly overestimate how many calories you actually consume when exercising. Unless your 800-calorie workouts are a couple hours long, or you finish them drenched in sweat and thinking that you're ready to collapse, I suspect that your HRM is being optimistic. With my cheap Timex HRM, I found that I got the best results if I set my weight to equal my estimated lean body mass rather than my actual weight.

EmmieCar86 · March 2013

Love this!!

daniellealys · March 2013

I'm a 32 year old female of 5' tall and 211lb who is trying to lose some weight... a lot of weigh! I've been keeping my daily food intake around 1200-1500 calories, BUT I have had days where I've eating over 1500 so I think (corret me if I'm wrong) that's balancing out overtime to be a healthy number of calories. I'm eating primarily raw fruits, vegetables, oatmeals, whole grain crackers as a snack, and lean proteins like chicken. I do eat other foods, these aren't the only things I'm consuming. I'm going to make a more conscious effort to improve my nutrition and carefully keep track of my calories in the coming weeks.

For exercise, I alternate between walking on the treadmill and doing tae bo. I have a heart rate monitor which says I burn at least 800 calories doing either exercise (tae bo is usually closer to 900 calories burned if not more). I've been exercising for 6 out of 7 days of the week using the 6th day to rest.

This past week my weight loss stalled. I weighed in 211.4lb for 4 days straight, the 5th day I was at 212.4lb after having chinese food the night before, the 6th day (today) I weighed 211.4 again. Is it possible that I'm exercising too much and/or not eating enough calories? The email I received from myfitnesspal said to reach my goal, consume 1200 calories daily and burn 2800 calories weekly doing 6 one hour exercises. Right now, I'm burning roughly 4800+ if my hrm watch is accurate. I thought that if I burned more than that, it would come off faster. Am I mistaken? What would you suggest? Maybe change my exercises to burn only 500 calories daily in 6 days? Keep going with what I'm doing, but up my calorie intake?

congrats on making healthy choices!!! I weight 208 and am 5f7i. my goal calories a day is 1600. I exercise 30 minutes a day burning on average 200/300 calories a day. I recommend increasing your food intake to 1600-1900. I would not be eating crackers either. dont eat anything that comes out of a box. nothing processed. stick to meat, vegies, fruit, nuts and fats and you will loose weight. your diet is the most important part of weight loss. I have lost over 40lbs in just over 4 months focusing on eating only whole foods instead of focusing on exercise. So, I recommend it.

Am I Exercising Too Much?

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